x, 301 pages : 24 cm

Three Jews--Alfred Dreyfus, Mendel Beilis, and Leo Frank--were charged with heinous crimes in the generation before World War I--Dreyfus of treason in France, Beilis of ritual murder in Russia, and Frank of the murder of a young girl in the United States. The affairs that developed out of their trials pulled hundreds of thousands of people into passionate confrontation. Quite aside from the sensational charges, larger issues emerged, among them the power of modern anti-Semitism, the sometimes tragic conflict between the freedom of the press and the protection of individual rights, the, and the inevitable ambiguities of campaigns for truth and justice when political advantage is to be gained from them. This study explores the nature of modern anti-Semitism and the ways that politicians in the generation before World War I attempted to use hatred of Jews as a political device to mobilize the masses

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-292) and index

1. Introduction -- 2. The historical setting in Europe and America -- 3. Earlier anti-Semitic affairs -- 4. France before the Dreyfus Affair -- 5. The Dreyfus Affair, more than a trial -- 6. Beyond the Pale -- Russia and the Jews, 1890-1914 -- 7. Blood libel -- the Beilis Affair -- 8. America, the 'exception' -- 9. The Leo Frank Affair -- Epilogue and conclusion

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